Clothes-washing device.



No. 635,404. Patented 0ct.' 2.4, |899. C. P. SNW.

CLOTHES wSHlNG DEVICE. (Application ined Apr. 17, 1899.)

oooooooo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES P. SNOW, OF LANARK, ILLINOIS.

CLOTH ES-WASHING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,404, dated October 24, 1899.

Application filed April 17, 1899. Serial No. 713,268. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES P. SNOW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lanark, in the county of Carroll, State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Washing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete device. Fig. 2 is an axial section of the same device.

In the figures, 9 designates a frusto-conical shell of thin or sheet metal forming the body of the device, and l a short upwardly-closed extension from the smaller end of the shell, forminga handle adapted to be grasped with one hand only in using the device. Within the shell and at some distance above its larger end is a transverse valve-plate 6, hinged at 7 to the shell and of such form and size that it may divide the shell into two compartments. Above this plate the shell is provided with an internal annular rib 2, against which the plate shuts, making an approximately airtight joint. Normally the plate is swung downward from this rib and is supported by projections 8 upon the shell 9, and in this position a passage from one compartment to the other is left around the plates margin. Above the rib the shell is provided with perforations l0 for the admission of air.

In use the implement is grasped by the extension or stub-handle l and pressed downward upon the clothes in the water used for cleansing them. The air in the lower compartment is thus forced upward, andits moveit for such use.

ment swings the valve-plate against the rib, wholly closing the lower compartment above, so that no air can escape upward. The air is thus compressed by the downward pressure applied to the implement bythe hand, and it exerts an elastic pressure upon the water which has risen into the compartment,- and as the rim of the shell is embeddedin the clothes by the pressure upon the shell the/water caunot escape beneath those edges, and hence is gradually forced through the clothes themselves, carrying with it such extraneous matL ter as may be therein or thereon. When the hand raises the shell, only the weight of the latter is to be overcome, for the valve instantly drops, allowing air to enter the upper compartment and pass freely to the lower one.

The device is not intended to be used as a pounder, and, infact, its short handle unflts Not being subjected to the strain of sudden blows it may be made very light and may be used with comparatively small expenditure of strength.

What I claim is- The combination with the conical shell having the short handle, the internal annular rib, and the internal projections below said rib and at some distance above the bottom of the shell,- of the shell-dividing valve-plate lying between said rib and projections and hinged to swing against the former, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

CHARLES P. SNOW.

Witnesses:

JAS. ERISMAUE, S. P. KENNER. 

